The TechDental Podcast

When an AI tool contributes to a clinical decision and a patient is harmed, who is liable? The clinician who acted on it, the organisation that deployed it, or the company that built it? Right now, English law cannot give a clean answer, and every organisation adopting AI is operating inside that uncertainty.In this episode of The TechDental Podcast, Dr Randeep Singh Gill sits down with Robert Kellar KC, a barrister at 1 Crown Office Row specialising in clinical negligence, professional discipline and regulation, public law and personal injury. Robert has spent recent years litigating high-value clinical and dental negligence claims, and was writing and speaking about AI and legal liability for medical practitioners before most people had heard of ChatGPT.This is a high-level conversation about legal governance and the reality of AI liability in regulated professions. The case study is dentistry. The framework applies to medicine, law, finance, and any high-stakes field where a regulated human is accountable for a decision an algorithm increasingly shapes.Dr Randeep Singh Gill and Robert Kellar KC discuss why the law looks to the human practitioner first and the technology company third, how AI could dilute or displace the 70-year-old Bolam standard of negligence, the two traps every clinician now sits between, automation bias on one side and the risk of wrongly overriding the AI on the other, and why documented independent judgement is the single best legal defence. They also cover the questions every leader should ask an AI vendor before signing, why a 1987 product liability law may or may not treat AI software as a product, why regulation gives innovators certainty rather than stifling them, how to use the EU AI Act as a procurement gold standard, and the governance every organisation should build before deployment.Essential listening for dentists, doctors, DSO operators, healthtech founders, compliance leaders and investors navigating AI adoption, clinical governance and professional liability.Please note: This episode is for general information and discussion only. It is not legal advice. These issues are highly fact-specific, so take qualified legal advice before acting, and do not rely on AI as a substitute.In this episode:Why the liability chain runs to the practitioner first, then the organisation, then the developerHow AI could dilute or reconceptualise the Bolam standard of clinical negligenceAutomation bias and the risk of disagreeing with AI: the vice closing from both sidesWhy documented judgement is a clinician's primary legal defenceThe two questions to ask any AI vendor before deploymentWhether AI software counts as a "product" under the Consumer Protection Act 1987Why regulation provides certainty for innovators rather than blocking themUsing EU AI Act compliance as a procurement and governance benchmarkThe governance framework to build before AI reaches a patientWho Robert predicts will stand in the dock when the first case reaches courtAbout the guest:Robert Kellar KC is a barrister at 1 Crown Office Row specialising in clinical negligence, professional discipline and regulation, public law and personal injury. He is a board advisor and a writer, speaker and thinker on medicine, AI and web3.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertkellarbarrister1crownofficerow/Chambers: https://www.1cor.com/london/Read the full written analysis: https://www.techdental.com/insights

Governance failure is almost never a dramatic event. It is a gradual disconnect between what leaders believe is happening and what is actually happening on the ground, and by the time it becomes visible, the opportunity to shape the outcome has usually gone.Dhiren Katwa has spent two decades inside some of the most complex regulated environments in the UK, including HS2, the largest infrastructure project in Europe. He is an award-winning PR practitioner, diversity consultant and stakeholder manager who has spoken at the United Nations in Geneva and at the inaugural World Public Relations Festival in Rome.In this conversation, Dr Randeep Singh Gill and Dhiren move past the usual AI-adoption conversation about tools and into the infrastructure underneath it: the governance, accountability and stakeholder trust that decide whether any deployment survives contact with a real organisation.They cover the five recurring patterns that precede governance failure in any sector, the single fastest test for telling real governance from performative governance, what deploying a 2,000-tonne tunnel boring machine beneath a 400-year-old woodland teaches you about winning trust before a change programme goes live, why the cost of excluding the people who carry the risk is legitimacy rather than efficiency, what aviation got right about governing automation, and the question most organisations only start asking after deployment: value for whom.The examples are drawn from infrastructure and dentistry. The patterns apply to any organisation deploying significant change.Essential listening for anyone leading transformation, deploying AI, or accountable for governance in a regulated organisation.In this episode:Why governance failure is a gradual disconnect, not a dramatic eventThe five patterns that appear before governance formally breaksThe "bad news test" for telling real governance from performative governanceWhat HS2 and a tunnel boring machine teach you about stakeholder trustWhy excluding the risk-bearers costs legitimacy, not efficiencyWhether stakeholder alignment is genuine diligence or disguised delayThe "value for whom" question most organisations ask too lateWhat aviation actually got right about governing automationThe ten-year view: why trust will matter more than technologyAbout the guest:Dhiren Katwa, award-winning PR practitioner, diversity consultant and stakeholder manager.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhiren-katwa/Read the full written analysis: https://www.techdental.com/insightsConnect with TechDental:Host Dr Randeep Singh Gill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/Web: https://www.techdental.comEmail: [email protected]🎧 Spotify: https://bit.ly/41UsqRO🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/41pKL9b▶️ YouTube: https://bit.ly/3JSfl5c

Almost the entire conversation about AI in dentistry happens at the level of products. Which diagnostic tool, which imaging platform, which vendor is furthest ahead. Andrea Albertini argues that the decisive questions sit one layer underneath, in the infrastructure through which any of those tools actually reaches a practice.Andrea is CEO of Global Distribution and Technology at Henry Schein, with executive responsibility for both the distribution business and the technology business, including the Henry Schein One joint venture, whose software runs in more than 100,000 dental locations worldwide. Before Henry Schein he was on the manufacturing side, at Cefla and Castellini, which gives him a rare view of the industry from the factory, the region, and the top of the global platform.In this conversation, Dr Randeep Singh Gill and Andrea get into why distribution and technology are not two businesses but a single operating environment, and why you cannot layer AI onto a fragmented one. They cover what it takes to deploy AI across 100,000-plus locations, the AWS generative AI partnership and why scale removes the pilot phase rather than requiring one, the shift from practice software as a system of record to an active participant in how a practice runs, and the governance question at the heart of it all: who owns clinical responsibility when an AI recommendation influences a decision. They also get into where the genuine demand is and where the noise is, why interoperability rather than individual tools is the real battleground, and how DSOs and independent practices are adopting on completely different curves.The examples are drawn from dentistry. The lessons on infrastructure, governance and AI adoption apply to any complex, regulated organisation.Essential listening for DSO operators, practice owners, dental technology founders, and healthtech investors who want to understand the infrastructure that decides whether dental AI succeeds or stalls.In this episode:Why the decisive questions in dental AI sit beneath the tools, not in themValue creation versus value delivery, and why most people only see oneWhy distribution and technology are one operating environmentWhy you cannot layer AI onto a fragmented ecosystemHow deploying across 100,000-plus locations removes the pilot phaseThe shift from system of record to active participantGovernance as an adoption strategy, and where clinical responsibility sitsWhere the real demand is, and where the noise isWhy interoperability is the real challenge, not individual toolsHow DSOs and independent practices are adopting differentlyAbout the guest:Andrea Albertini, CEO of Global Distribution and Technology, Henry Schein. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-albertini-0735262/ Henry Schein: https://www.linkedin.com/company/henry-schein/Read the full written analysis: https://www.techdental.com/insightsConnect with TechDental: Host Dr Randeep Singh Gill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/ Web: https://www.techdental.com Email: [email protected]

The same AI tool, deployed into two different dental practices, produces wildly different results. The difference is not the tool. It is the foundation underneath it.In this episode, Dr Randeep Singh Gill sits down with Ravinder Nottra, founder of sigmasmile and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt with 15 years applying structured operational methodology across John Lewis, the legal sector, and three years working inside a supplier of clear aligners. Ravinder brings the methodology that rebuilt Toyota, reshaped parts of the NHS, and underpins the operational excellence of GE and Amazon into the dental practice, properly, for the first time.The thesis that drives the conversation: AI is not a strategy, it is a force multiplier. It amplifies whatever foundation is already there. Strong processes compound. Mess compounds faster. Deploy AI onto an unmapped process and you are multiplying zero by zero.Ravinder and Randeep get into where the money is actually hiding in a practice, the half a million pounds she uncovered across three sites without hiring a single person, why procurement overspend goes unnoticed for years, the exact point in a group's growth where informal processes break, value stream mapping, standard work in a clinical setting, running the dental chair like a Formula One pit stop, and why operational improvement is a capital strategy ahead of exit, not a cost exercise.Essential listening for independent practice owners, multi-site groups and DSOs, dental technology founders, and healthtech investors who want durable advantage, not expensive distraction.In this episode:Why the same AI tool compounds in one practice and creates chaos in anotherWhy AI is a force multiplier, not a strategyWhere the money is actually hiding in a dental practiceThe half a million pounds hidden across three sites, with no new hiresHow reducing variation unlocks up to 50% more chair capacityRunning the dental chair like a Formula One pit stop, using SMEDWhy you must map the process before you buy the AIStandardising the process without standardising clinical judgementWhy operational improvement raises your exit multiple, not just your marginWhat the UK dental market can learn from more mature operatorsA strategic tool for listeners:Ravinder has produced a free Hidden Cost Audit workbook for practice owners and group operators. Download it at https://sigma-smile.com/#workbookAbout the guest:Ravinder Nottra, founder of sigmasmile.Website: https://sigma-smile.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravinder-nottra-52610185/sigmasmile on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigma-smile-consultancy/Connect with TechDental:Host Dr Randeep Singh Gill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/Web: https://www.techdental.comEmail: [email protected]🎧 Spotify: https://bit.ly/41UsqRO🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/41pKL9b▶️ YouTube: https://bit.ly/3JSfl5c📩 Subscribe to the TechDental newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7320560217455271939

Most dental groups approach AI as a procurement decision. Which tool, which vendor, which price. Dr Sonia Szamocki argues that is the wrong variable entirely.Sonia is founder and CEO of 01Health. Before building clinical AI infrastructure from scratch, she was an A&E doctor, trained in medicine at Oxford, and worked at BCG and BCG Digital Ventures. She has navigated this problem from inside elite strategy through to the messy reality of building a clinical AI platform, and she has a framework for AI adoption that almost nobody in dentistry is articulating.In this episode, Dr Randeep Singh Gill and Sonia get into why AI readiness is an organisational design question, not a technology one. The core argument: the decisive question is not which AI you buy, it is whether your organisation can absorb what AI delivers at all.They cover why you start with the problem and not the tool, the difference between deterministic and probabilistic systems and why it breaks the governance most groups rely on, why between 50 and 90% of real AI work is evaluation rather than building, and how to introduce AI without triggering the change fatigue that kills adoption. Sonia makes the case for building from within rather than doing AI to your organisation, explains how to evaluate vendor claims independently, and argues that the heaviest lifting in adoption belongs to the vendor, not the customer. She walks through the four questions every DSO should ask a vendor before signing, why you should build on imperfect data rather than wait for perfect foundations, and what the UK can learn from the point-solution sprawl that has already burned more mature US markets.Essential listening for DSO operators, dental practice owners, dental AI founders, and healthtech investors trying to separate durable advantage from expensive distraction.In this episode:Why most dental groups are asking the wrong question about AIWhy you start with the problem, not the toolThe difference between deterministic and probabilistic systems, and why it changes governanceWhy evaluation, not building, is now 50 to 90% of the real workHow to introduce AI without triggering the resistance that kills adoptionWhy building from within beats doing AI to your organisationHow to evaluate AI performance claims independentlyThe proprietary data layer, and who is positioned to extract value from itWhy you should build on imperfect data instead of waiting for perfect foundationsWhy the vendor should carry the heaviest load in adoption, not the customerThe four questions every DSO should ask a vendor before signingWhat the UK can learn from US point-solution sprawlChapters:00:00 The wrong variable: why most groups misframe AI 02:02 Start with the problem, not the tool 05:15 Deterministic vs probabilistic systems 06:13 Why evaluation is now 50 to 90% of the work 09:22 Change fatigue and the resistance that kills adoption 11:49 Who restructures care vs who just automates 14:29 Evaluating AI performance claims independently 16:13 The proprietary data layer, and who owns it 24:49 Building a data strategy on imperfect foundations 26:30 The vendor question: solution or problem transfer 29:03 The four questions every DSO should ask a vendor 32:46 Build versus buy, and the cold start problem 34:32 What the UK can learn from the US market 38:17 Lightning roundAbout the guest:Dr Sonia Szamocki, founder and CEO of 01Health.Website: https://01health.ai/ukLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-sonia-szamocki/01Health LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/01health/ Instagram: @01.health / @aerox.healthRead the full written analysis: https://www.techdental.com/insightsConnect with TechDental: Host Dr Randeep Singh Gill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/ Web: https://www.techdental.com Email: [email protected]🎧 Spotify: https://bit.ly/41UsqRO 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/41pKL9b📩 Subscribe to the TechDental newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7320560217455271939